Rethink Retirement

“Don’t Retire, There are Better Goals in Life.” This bold statement graced the cover of Worth magazine nearly two years ago, and challenged readers to reconsider their concept of retirement.

In the lead article, “The Rise and Fall of Retirement,” Stephen Pollan and Mark Levine claimed that retirement isn’t a natural part of the human life cycle and not the right of every citizen. In addition, retirement is an out-dated form of social engineering that hurts the economy, makes many people unhappy, and is “downright unhealthy.”

Radical statements perhaps, but increasing numbers of individuals are questioning the traditional concept of retirement and are looking for new models. As it turns out, the way we retire is most affected by the way we work.

To facilitate more options in retirement, promote these policies in the workplace:

• Move toward a more flexible working system—one that eliminates the ultimatum of retirement, the choice between full-time and no time.
• People should be able to adjust their work to fit their changing desires and abilities (i.e., part-time, flex time, telecommuting, job sharing).
• Job descriptions should be elastic enough to accommodate the wishes of valuable older employees.
• Training programs should include retraining and reeducation for experienced workers.

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